Today, the League of Conservation Voters led 19 environmental organizations in sending the below letter to the House of Representatives urging Members to oppose H.R. 9027, the Fiscal Year 2025 House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. LCV will strongly consider scoring votes related to H.R. 9027 in the 2024 National Environmental Scorecard.

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July 22, 2024

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Re: Please oppose H.R. 9027, which raises energy costs for rural America. 

Dear Representative,

On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, the 19 undersigned groups urge you to oppose H.R. 9027, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 as well as any amendments that further burden rural America with high energy costs and impair the climate resilience needed to feed America.

Rural America and American farmers are on the frontline of climate change, with their livelihoods dependent on stable and predictable climates. As climate change intensifies extreme weather events, agricultural productivity is expected to decline, fundamentally challenging rural economies and cultures. And while more than 245 million Americans experience temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit this week, rural America lags behind in responding to these extreme weather events, lacking the infrastructure and resources needed to protect their communities. However, with federal support and incentives, rural communities and the agriculture industry can play an essential role in confronting climate change while saving Americans money.

Unfortunately, the House’s FY25 Agriculture appropriations bill makes devastating funding cuts to essential energy efficiency programs that would lower costs for rural consumers and reduce their environmental impact. It cuts 90% of the President’s requested budget for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which grants funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to install renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements. It cuts 95% of the President’s requested funding for the Rural Energy Savings Program, further exposing rural America to high energy costs. Moreover, in neither the bill text nor the report does the word “climate” appear despite farmers being so intimately and directly impacted by worsening climate change. In fact, H.R. 9027 completely rejects the President’s budget request for USDA’s climate hubs, represents an $82 million cut from the budget request for conservation operations to assist farmers with implementing climate-smart practices, rescinds $50 million for the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and turns back the clock for USDA on outreach to farmers adopting climate friendly practices. Instead of ignoring the impacts of climate change on rural America, Congress should put meaningful federal dollars to work supporting those communities and the agriculture industry.

In addition to the woefully low funding levels proposed in this legislation, H.R. 9027 includes numerous poison pill policy riders that make it more difficult for rural Americans to maintain their livelihoods and put food on the table, while leaving them vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. One such rider prevents USDA from requiring new homes backed by their programs to be built to the latest energy efficiency codes, resulting in poorly constructed homes and higher energy costs. Poison pill riders such as these and the many exclusionary and discriminatory riders in this bill were removed from the final FY24 Agriculture bill just a few months ago; by going down this path again, we fear Congress is wasting valuable time that could be better spent producing bipartisan legislation that has a realistic chance of becoming law.

Again, we urge you to REJECT H.R. 9027, the FY25 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, which would burden rural America with climate change’s high price tag.

Sincerely,

CCAN Action Fund

Clean Water Action

Climate Action Campaign

Defenders of Wildlife

Earthjustice

Endangered Species Coalition

Environmental Defense Fund

Environmental Law & Policy Center

Environmental Working Group

Interfaith Power & Light

League of Conservation Voters

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

National Wildlife Federation

Natural Resources Defense Council

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Sierra Club

The Conservation Angler

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Union of Concerned Scientists

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